Greener.

As I write this it is 9:23 PM monday night, at 5 AM tomorrow morning, I will be on a plane headed for America.

They say the grass is always greener on the other side, and, well, I’ve been on the other side for 5 months now.

Here are some things that I’ve missed the last 5 months, and some things I’m grateful to come home to:

-Free refills. Seriously, enjoy them, we’re apparently the only country that does them.

-I’m grateful to not have to convert prices in my head anymore. My math skills have never been more tested.

-Cool air. Something that is missing in India.

-I’m grateful to not be the sore thumb for once. It will be good to walk through a crowd and not turn heads.

-In-n-Out. Seriously, that is what a hamburger is all about.

-Convenience. Nowhere else is the world is there more stuff in one place than America.

-Not bargaining. I’m going to be grateful to walk into a store, and the price on the box is the price of the item. As of now, it is a foreign concept.

-A phone. I know I will not feel this way once my phone gets turned on, but it will be nice to be in contact again.

-Pancakes. Nothing more needs to be said.

-On the subject of food, it will be nice to be back in a place where McDonalds and KFC are the cheap places in town rather than the expensive places. You can only celebrate so much over a McChicken sandwich.

-Paper towels. I cannot emphasize how much a person misses those suckers when they don’t have them.

-Eating something…without sharing it with at least nine other people.

-Showers that are, A) not out of a bucket, and B) have water pressure, and C) have more than one choice of temperature.

-White shirts! So simple…but so nice.

-Rules of the road. In India the only rule is….ah who am I kidding, There are no rules!

-Being able to eat something without asking myself, “will this hurt later?”

-A place where dogs are petted rather than avoided.

-Red freaking meat. Holy cow, I cannot wait to eat some cow!

-Family. Yes. I miss them.

India has treated us like family. And of all the things that have been amazing, its continually shocked me how good people were to us. Complete strangers gave us rides and refused payment. People invited us into their homes at their own risk, and having 10 loud, eclectic “westerners” is no picnic. Not only did they invite us in, but they treated us like family. And as grateful as I am to go home, and as much as I poked fun at India during this blog post, I will always look back and remember how green the grass was in India, especially when it came to family.